Photographic Poetry | Exhibition

Childhood is an age with many faces and a thousand languages.

For a long time, this time of life has been interpreted as a passage to be passed as quickly as possible and not as a substantial moment for the development of the person, who experiences, evaluates, fantasizes, interprets and imagines the world in its perceptive and sensitive aspects

Photographic Poetry offers image and voice to that childhood feeling that between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries leads to a new sensibility: historical photographs, preserved in the Provincial Historical Photographic Archives, and period and contemporary poetic texts, found in the Trentino library system, interweaving styles and modes of expression to restore voice to an age that, despite the original meaning of the Latin word infans "speechless," has much to say and much to tell.

Small cartes dé visite, 'visiting cards,' from the late nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century are on display to prompt a glimpse on a childhood that was not free to express itself and manifest its exploratory nature and intellectual curiosity.

Over time, small elements appear in photographic portraits that identify a more participatory attention to the essence of childhood: rocking horses, wooden hoops, dice, wooden bowls, the first smiles on faces, the shy, more spontaneous attitudes.

It all still remains very much codified and defined by precise clichés but, slowly, even in commercial portraiture, such as that of cartes dé visite, a more naturalistic and realistic expression of the 'planet childhood' assumes a certain relevance.

Expression that the poetry texts, juxtaposed with these historical photographs, highlight in all its freshness, originality, curiosity, variety of interests and pleasures. A colourful and polyphonic world that of poems for children and young people that highlights in all its imaginative richness how much childhood has to experience, to say and to tell.

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During the opening period of the exhibition, various activities and initiatives are planned:

Photographic Poetry: guided tours of the exhibition

Fri 3 November 2023 | 17:00 - 18:00

Sat 11 November 2023 | 11:00 - 12:00

Sun 26 November 2023 | 15:00 - 16:00

Poetically: meeting for librarians, professionals and enthusiasts to learn about Vivian Lamarque's poetics, accompanied by Gloria Riggio and poetry dedicated to children and young people with Fabrizia Mosca of the Athena Bookstore in Pergine Valsugana.

Tue 14 November 2023 | 9:30 - 11:30

Portrait with backdrop: photographer Elisa Vettori will take a portrait of anyone who wants to pose in front of a large, imaginative backdrop, so you can take home a contemporary portrait that winks at the past: just stop by the Vantini Chapel!

Sun 19 November 2023 | 17:00 - 18:00

From Vannetti to Zanzotto. Verbal play, minimal theater, popular poetry for/of childhood. A tale from Trentino with historian Quinto Antonelli who introduces us to a little-known but very richly stimulating and surprising poetic world

Thu 23 November 2023 | 17:30 - 6:30

Freestyle. Performance poetry workshop for girls and boys aged 11 and over with Mattia Zadra and curated by Tiring house Association. A time to experiment with one's poetic vein, or bring it to life.

Sat 2 December 2023 | 16.00 - 18.00.

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Strategic Mission Unit of the Department for Cultural Heritage and Activities - Autonomous Province of Trento